Wild edible plants

Originally posted by jimmiec
reply to post by emeris

 

I wish my grandmother was still alive. She was part Cherokee and knew so much about nature. She carried a cricket in a matchbox to tell the temperature. She ran a 120 acre farm most of her life. Grandpa was a moonshiner and not much help farming. I wrote a story about her on ATS. It is really a true story. Search "Wheres Alice,we may need her" if you care to read about her and how they lived way back when. I still use a lot of her old time cures.

Out in the wilds and if you listened to your grandma you would survive, and the fact that you know natural cures you would be in demand and could earn food,
i would brush up on my skills and perhaps get some stock in.

You will survive long after the rest of us are gone.

reply to post by emeris


You can count the seconds between the crickets chirps and tell the temperature. Strange but true.

reply to post by pavmas


Everybody listened to my grandma. She was an amazing woman. Her nickname was Al Capone.

When spring rolls around im planning a camping trip in a wilderness area up in the mountains of north Georgia. I plan to spend at least a few months living on wild food but i may spend a whole season from spring to fall. I already know enough to have plenty of food but ill be bringing my field guides and wandering around each day learning more and more plants.

reply to post by emeris


Sounds fun, I used to go spelunking in North Georgia many years ago. I remember entering the cave through a pretty narrow opening and once we could stand up we had to kinda shimmy up against a wall to keep out of the small stream running into it. So as i was walking with my hand against the wall my arm suddenly went through the wall of the cave!! I had just plunged my arm through a HUGE pile of bat guano! Shined my light above me and the ceiling was covered with thousands of bats. Wish i had that bat guano now. That is supposedly the best fertilizer there is and goes for big money. Anyway,after maybe an hour we came to a huge cavern in the cave and camped there. It is an amazing experience to camp in a cave. Turn all the lights out and you could sleep with your eyes open it is so dark. I wish you success on your camping trip. I plan to camp more myself. Nature is awesome!

Originally posted by Robonakka
Chestnuts are extinct in the wild so mentioning them was a waste of time.

No, they are not extinct in the wild. They are quite plentiful in the wild in Europe! I live in chestnut and oak forest in France.

What's good about chestnuts is that you can make flour with them that substitutes rather well for wheat flour.

A lot of the plants we eat around here might not exist in parts of the US, but many do. I didn't see mentioned Nettles, which are extemely good and full of minerals. Rose hips exist there too (lots of vitamin C!).

I discovered fruit like Kakis and Quince, which are interestng to eat and cook with...


Someone mentioned not to eat Oleander roots, and I just wanted to add- don't eat ANY part of the Oleander! Every bit is extremely poisonous!

reply to post by jimmiec


Yeah ill be looking for a nice cave to stay in. Do you know anything about the Cohutta Wilderness in N. Georgia?

reply to post by emeris


No, That was nearly 40 years ago. I moved to Houston and lived there for 25 years before moving back up here. I would think you could find a spelunking website with tons of info,locations though. I wish i could tell you exactly where that one was. It was a great cave. I used to explore a cave in Tennessee about 15 miles from me. They turned it into a tourist trap now. It is called "The Lost Sea" . They have glass bottom boats that allow you to see the abundant blind fish and other odd creatures that thrive in these caves.

reply to post by Bigfoot12714

I think you can eat juniper berries

Ive heard debate on that one some people say their bad others say only in small amounts.

one of the better ones for when the winter hits are the mountain ash/rowan berries because they stay on the trees throught the winter as long as you let them freeze and spit the seeds out though. though they dont taste that good.
sacredearth.com...

reply to post by Bluesma


I did not think the list was for Europe. I just assumed it was for the US. And in the US the native chestnut population is zero. They are all dead. Sure, once in a while you still get a scrawny shoot coming up off a stump, but it dies off really quickly. In America there are no native chestnut trees any more. If they existed my ashtray stand would not be worth $10,000, since it would be possible to make more of them and it is not. My dad would find chestnut trees in the woods that were not completely rotted away and he would bring them home and make things out of them. Like my ashtray stand.

Nettles? I would not put one in my mouth for all the money in the world. You do know they sting like hell, don't you?

Not mentioned were Solomon's seal, Jack in the pulpit root, mayapple, cattail roots, pokeberry greens, or wild strawberries.

Juniper is used as a flavoring for gin, and can be used as an external rub for pain, but they aren't the best things to eat. If a handful was the only food you had and that's all you ate, you should be alright. They contain some pretty harsh volatile oils.

Rose hips are a great source of food. They are super high in vitamin C, the further north you are, the more vitamin c they have. Wild grains are also a great food source, especially if you collect while you hike.

Every region has it's own special treats, fiddlehead ferns are a tasty one near me, a local plant ID book would be invaluable. It should give you more specifics, that way you don't overlook some obscure goody. It also give you the ability to take your photos and list of traits into the field, regardless of internet availability.

Originally posted by Robonakka
reply to post by Bluesma

 

I did not think the list was for Europe. I just assumed it was for the US. And in the US the native chestnut population is zero. They are all dead. Sure, once in a while you still get a scrawny shoot coming up off a stump, but it dies off really quickly. In America there are no native chestnut trees any more. If they existed my ashtray stand would not be worth $10,000, since it would be possible to make more of them and it is not. My dad would find chestnut trees in the woods that were not completely rotted away and he would bring them home and make things out of them. Like my ashtray stand.

I only disagreed with the claim of extinction- which means no longer existing on earth.

But are you serious about the worth of the wood??? We use it for making tables, and did a bathroom sink with a huge slab, it is literally everywhere.... If what you say is true, I may have found a lucrative export opportunity!!

Nettles? I would not put one in my mouth for all the money in the world. You do know they sting like hell, don't you?

LOL- when you cook them, they don't sting anymore.

reply to post by Robonakka


Stinging nettles are one of the most nutritious foods in the world. If you dry them or cook them or blend them up or crush them they lose their sting. Also some brave people eat them raw by folding the leaf in the right way to cover up the stingers and then chew them up.

I always liked the story of Milarepa living on nettles alone while he meditated in a cave in the himalayas. They say his skin turned green from eating nothing but nettles.